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As we approach the end of the year it’s important to reflect on the progress of the sisterhood. Despite 1 in 3 women suffer physical or sexual violence and a continued struggle against the glass ceiling – I do believe we are making progress. In celebration of a landmark year for feminism, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite moments for famous women in 2014.

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Women absolutely DOMINATED the charts this year! Taylor Swift‘s 1989 became the highest selling album of the year, making her the only artist in history to sell more than a million albums in the first week – for three albums in a row! T-Swift’s BFF Lorde also proved her talents, receiving multiple Grammy awards (including song of the year) and becoming the youngest solo artist since 1987 to have a US #1 hit. Similarly, Iggy Azalea became the first artist since the Beatles to have consecutive US #1 and #2 spots on the top 100 charts. Oh and let’s not forget Beyonce‘s VMAs messagethat could be heard around the world…

Film/TV

Thanks to Scandal, Orange is the New Black, Girls and How to Get Away with Murder, the world celebrated powerful, complex female characters on the small screen on a scale that has never been achieved before. We also celebrated a diversity in our actresses, with Lupita Nyong’o becoming the first Kenyan and Mexican to win an Oscar, and Laverne Cox becoming the first transgender woman to cover TIME magazine. In other news, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler brought some serious girl power to the Academy Awards hosting spot and Emma Watson made a few small steps for mankind toward gender equality.

Business

Apple and Facebook introduced a groundbreaking policy that meant it would pay for its female employees to freeze their eggs – a move that allows women to focus on their career and remain in the workforce without the ever-present threat of the “ticking biological clock”. The International Monetary Fund appointed its first female CEO, Christine Lagarde, as did General Motors– making Mary Barra the first woman in charge of a global automaker.

Nobel Peace Prizes

The world has not been able to stop talking about Malala Yousafzai – the young Pakistani girl who was shot in the head for speaking out against the Taliban in favor of educating young girls in her home country. Malala has continued to work on international efforts to improve the education of young women – an effort which earned her a Nobel Peace Prize. Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the prize. Another woman was also given a Nobel Prize… in Mathematics! Maryam Mirzkhani became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal for her work in geometry and dynamical systems.

Sport

In 2014, Becky Hammon became the NBA’s first full-time, paid female member of a coaching team with the San Antonio Spurrs. However, the biggest name in sport was that of 14 year-old Mo’ne Davis. Young Mo’ne was one of two girls to compete in this year’s Little League World Series and the first female to ever pitch a shutout game. Who said throwing like a girl was an insult?